Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

One of my favorite "first books" was "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" by Judith Viorst. When I had a day filled with blunders and felt like my horseshoe had been tipped upside down, all I had to do to feel better was read this blissful simple, cheeky little book. The essence of the story is that bad days happen to everybody, everywhere, and changing locations doesn't make them go away—even if that location is pretty cool (like sunny Florida, or in Alexander's case, Australia). 

So yesterday, after four hours of cheering and cringing, our Harbaugh-Bowl dreams evaporated as a second-string player (who took the place of an injured special-teams star) made a very costly mistake amidst a frustrated offense incapable of third-down conversions. After a Cinderella season, the 49ers fell short of Super Bowl XLVI in overtime sudden death—in a game that hardly demonstrated their full potential. Kev and I went to bed with a couple of long faces and awoke to a gloomy Monday morning knowing that our underdog season would not have a classic Friday-Night-Lights ending. And worse, two blue-blood teams will now be competing to add "eh-just-another-why-not" ring to their ever-growing collections. Sigh. I know we're a bit dramatic about our sports teams, but to truly enjoy the highs, you have to be with your team through the lows.

So great to see Judy!

Leave it to lil' Alexander to pick us back up (oh yes, I still have my original copy). Half of the remedy was just laughing at our childishness in enjoying goofy simplicity. Niners aside, life is pretty great for us right now and we feel blessed. I had two DC friends visit in the same week: Judy (my first boss at Ralph Lauren) and Bryttava (GW & SK friend). Judy came down with her boyfriend Tom, who has family in Boca Raton, and they met me for lunch on Tuesday. Bryttava's boyfriend Rob grew up in PBC and the two of them were here visiting his parents, so Kev and I met them for brunch at a cute French bistro in West Palm on Saturday. After brunch, Kevin and I checked out two possible venues for the wedding and read books on the beach. Then we met some new Florida friends for dinner at a Palm Beach hotspot where we watched the Ferrari/Lamborghini/Bugatti convention drive by. 

It's really not horrible, no good, or very bad here.

CBD

Two 49er fans in the Sunshine State

We anxiously anticipated the 49er game this weekend, and, man, for a good reason—what a game! After a very stressful fourth quarter, with four lead changes in the last four minutes, the 49ers came up with the win. Kevin and I were exhausted from four hours of cheering and stressing, but as Coach Harbaugh would say, "Who's got it better than us? NOoobody!" (My favorite Niner chant.)

Go Niners!

Kevin grew up in the Bay area, so as a lifelong 49er fan it had been nine years since he'd had the opportunity to watch them in the playoffs. Growing up in Chapel Hill, where basketball reigned supreme, I had never really followed professional football so over the past five years I've adopted the Niners as my own, mainly due to the enthusiasm of one dedicated fan that is my dear fiancé. The 49ers are in rare form with rookie head coach Jim Harbaugh, who's coaching philosophy is very inspiring and reminds me a bit of my own favorite coach, Roy Williams. Unfortunately, the Carolina game this weekend was the opposite of spectacular as the preseason ranked #1 team looked sloppy, complacent, and, worst of all, blasé. Both programs have a storied history of championships and Hall of Fame athletes and coaches, but one team came into the season with low expectations from the press and performed spectacularly and the other team came in with the highest of expectations and rode the hype straight down the tubes. Hopefully, the Tarheels got a wake up call early enough in the season to change their attitudes going forward, but for now I'm majorly bummed on the basketball front. As for the 49ers, stay tuned because they're heading to the NFC Championship next weekend!

Grow little seeds, grow!

I caught up a little bit with Haley, Varsha, and Nathaly this week. It was nice to catch up with good friends and see what they're up to. Just as I was missing everyone and wishing they could all come visit I found out that my friend Judy would be in Boca on Tuesday so I get to see a familiar face in just two days! Then my mom's sister Sandy told me that her and my Uncle Dave would be coming to town in February! Moving to a new place is exciting and difficult at the same time. It's definitely an adjustment even though it's mostly positive. The hardest part is making new friends and keeping in touch with people you can't see regularly anymore. One of Kevin's co-workers from DC, Lois, also moved to Palm Beach not long before us and we've been hanging out a lot with her and her boyfriend Steve. She just got an awesome cat named Leo who is extremely entertaining, especially with a little catnip. So as a surprise I added some catnip seeds to my herb garden and am going to bring her over a plant once they have a chance to grow. For Christmas, Kevin's brother Michael and his aunt Kathy got me started on my gardening hobby with seeds, soil, and  pots. It's been a fun hobby for me, and so far I have eight different sprouts of herbs and flowers. In DC, it was impossible to grow anything in our apartment as it didn't get adequate direct sunlight or have an outdoor space, so it's a really nice change to be able to have a garden now. I'm looking forward to cooking with my herbs and putting some fresh flowers around the house.

So I guess this week's post could be summed up: Go 49ers and come visit us in Florida! :)

CBD